And Roy G. Biv? He’s the way you remember the colors of the rainbow, in order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
In high school biology, King Philip came over from great Spain to remind us that the order of taxonomy is Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
I was a music major in college, and when you learn the history of Western music, you start with Gregorian chant. Chant is intimately tied to the Church, and to the prayer services of the day, known as the canonical hours: Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline.
In order to remember the canonical hours, one of my classmates – a cellist named Betsy – came up with a wonderful mnemonic.
My lady, please touch softly, not very clumsily.
As you can see, it’s a good mnemonic, because lo these many years later, I still know my canonical hours.
What’s your favorite mnemonic?
Weird Aunt Jane makes macaroni and jumps very high, too.
ReplyDeleteWashington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler
It was on a calendar I had as a child - and I've never forgotten the first ten presidents of the U.S.
I’m so excited someone else remembers weird Aunt Jane! Very effective mnemonic, I’ve remembered it for decades!
DeleteA rat in Tom's house might eat Tom's ice cream (= how to spell "arithmetic").
ReplyDeleteBut "righty tighty, lefty loosey" is a little more useful.
Ooh, I love these. Thanks for the new ones.
ReplyDeleteThere is A RAT in sepARATe.
The princiPAL is your PAL. A principLE is a ruLE.
Not exactly the same, but I remember that "han" is "he" and "hon" is "she" in Swedish (I get confused since I speak Spanish and the "a" usually goes with the female) by thinking that women waitresses call people "hon" sometimes.
ReplyDeleteBYOB...JUST KIDDING...Really I am, sort of.
ReplyDeleteDessert is spelled with two "s"es because it's made of Sweet Sugar. Whereas the Desert has one "s" because it's made of Sand.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this is my favorite because, I eat far too many sweets while sitting in sand at the beach.
On Old Olympus' Towering Top A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops.
ReplyDelete12 Cranial Nerves.
You can laugh at my nerddom now.
Since I'm a cellist, it's Good Boys Do Fine Always (bass clef).
ReplyDelete52 Mab St to remember Jesus' disciples (I went to Christian schools, what can I say?)
ReplyDelete5 stands for those whose names start with J: James, John, James, Judas, and Judas Iscariot
The 2 stands for those whose names start with the letter P: Peter and Philip
M stands for Matthew
A is for Andrew
B is for Bartholomew
S is for Simon
T is for Thomas
Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior - HOMES (the Great Lakes)
ReplyDeleteSo many good ones!
Dumb Martians Just Sit Noiselessly Eating Tender Noodles.
ReplyDeleteIt's REALLY useless information: the names of the the children in the Eight Is Enough family, in order of age:
David, Mary, Joanie, Susan, Nancy, Elizabeth, Tommy, Nicholas
I like Roy G. Biv personally. I have a friend who wanted to change his name to that. Is it any surprise that he's gay?
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a single mnemonic at this moment. How sad is that?
ReplyDeleteI do try to use one when I meet people to help me remember their names. I remember a guy named Bob who was bald. "bald bob". And a woman named Ann whose hair looked like our former Governor Ann Richards. Because I'm the worst at names. In one ear and straight out the other.
Frogs and cows eat green bugs (for the space notes in the treble clef). And the combination for my mailbox in college--which has not been changed, twenty three years later, as I checked at my last reunion, was Initial of First Name of High School Debating Friend 1, Initial of Last Name of High School Debating Friend 1.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I use to memorize everything in college.
ReplyDeleteLove that sneaker shot.
We just did this in my Visual/Performing Arts class for teachers to help us remember the standards.
ReplyDeleteArt Can Harbor A Candle. I won't bore you with what it stands for.
My Very Easy Method Just Seems Useful Naming Planets
ReplyDeleteSelf explanatory!
HOMES - Huron, Ottawa, Michigan, Erie, Superior
ReplyDeleteAs a Michiganian, we're required to learn that one in 4th grade. ;-)
Just thought of another one...
ReplyDeleteMay the ma be with you.
force=mass * acceleration
yes, am geek. :)
Every
ReplyDeleteGood
Boy
Deserves
Fudge
My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets
and to rememember the fates of Henry the 8th's wives, this little rhyme:
Divorced, beheaded died,
divorced, beheaded, survived
I learned it like ringleader above,
ReplyDelete"Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge". And my mother made some to-die-for fudge!
I've never forgotten Every Good Boy Does Fine!
ReplyDeleteFurther to mummalicious and ringleader:
ReplyDeleteMy Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.
I learned your first one as: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.
ReplyDeleteAnother one that sticks in my mind from long ago: Never Eat Shredded Wheat (North East South West).
Mine is still "i before e . . ."
ReplyDeleteI linked to your neighbor/pack of gum post today. I had a socially awkward neighbor story to share too, except that I was the awkward one. ;)
For us, it was Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.
ReplyDeleteThe planets were: Man very early made jars stand up nearly perpendicular.
I sometimes wonder where all the creative juices are flowing now that Pluto has lost its status as planet.
My teacher told us that "I before E except after C is not very scientific."
ReplyDelete